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Local area store closes, opens race-baiting door

By: Leopard1996 (Diary)  |  May 2nd, 2010 at 08:07 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

This past week, while driving my wife to work, and again this morning doing some shopping before I go down to officiate the Big East Track and Field Championships down at the University of Cincinnati, one of the big local stories in the Cincinnati-Metro area is the closing of the Kroger store in the Roselawn community.  Now as a conservative/libertarian type that I am, my visceral reaction was that if the store was profitable the company would not see the need to close the store, and I am sure there are many ways for folks to get the needed food.

However, listening to the radio stations that my wife has programmed in her car stereo all I can hear is how this is unfair for those poor, majority black folks that live in this neighborhood that this store is closing although the place was operating at a loss which seems to me tells me that the people in that area were probably already going to other stores, and received more than enough assistance to get to those other stores.

What really gets me riled up about this as a member of African-American decent is that now quite a few politicians are now attempting to use this as an election time issue, and of course they are dealing the race card like it was the big joker in game of spades, so far the only folks that I have heard try to make this an issue is of course Democrats.

This diary started out as a solicitation for seeing how other conservatives would feel about this, but as I was writing I saw that this issue is being used as a club by some politicians who want to capitalize off of the race/victim card to get themselves elected.  So I went from having some sympathy for those that live in the community to actually no sympathy thanks to those who are now wanting that store to stay open and want the government to come to the rescue and force the store to not only stay open, but invest more into a losing store so that they can have “quality food” available.   I would like to ask my liberal fellow citizens, when does the government control end, and freedom begin and if I am not mistaken, when the government is telling businesses how to run their businesses but allows the business itself to stay open, that bespeaks of a fascism that was practiced by such lovely folks like Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini.

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COMMENTS

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  • Brian Hibbert

    A store is robbed repeatedly and moves out of a poor neighborhood and locals complain about the move being a RACIST action. The morons. It has nothing to do with race, it’s safety and profit that motivated the moves!

    • http://khenzarovich.blogspot.com D.T. Dickinson

      To the left, profit is racist.

  • izoneguy

    Just as ACORN forced the issue of the CRA with the banks – now millions of people could get into a home – thanks to the pressure of Obama, ACORN and your federal government. Forget the fact that most of these loans to poor black people would never be paid back….
    They got their “social justice”!!!!

    Soon the government will pass something like the CFA (Community Food Act) – food stores will be forced to settle for pennies on the dollar, just like many doctors are struggling with lower medicare payments.

    And the food stores won’t be able to close or their entire company will be taken over like GM. So the food stores will raise their prices to the “rich people” like you & me, to cover the losses in the “poor
    areas”.

    This social justice & power to the people crap is costing too much.
    I say we start the counter-counter-revolution.

    GET A JOB – STOP BLEEDING US DRY!!!!!

    • izoneguy

      I wonder if this guy has ever had a job?
      Maybe he could be a bag boy at the social justice food store?

      • Scope

        have made every single issue into a race issue. He sure has done all he can to incite this kind of behavior from those that think “social justice” means everyone can/should be equal. When you make one equal, you make another unequal.

        The best part of your diary Leopard was when you said, if the people who are screaming against the closing of Kroger most likely didn’t shop there to begin with. If the store was profitable, they would not be closing. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when doctors start closing their practices. That will become a racist issue as well. Many will scream that they just were not compassionate and didn’t want to treat the poor.

        There is no longer the first issue in this country that has remained sacred. If it is not made into a racist issue, then it’s all Bush’s fault.

      • hickorystick

        That’s not a Q on his t-shirt, under the newspaper.

      • mbecker908

        inspired by that doofus.

        “Starve the Stupid”

      • http://fairfaxgardener.blogspot.com ddstrain

        this guy is the poster child of the “Come over and give me a wedgie” crowd. Trying to look tough with that apostrophe tattoo on his arm…and trying to look mature with a bit o’scruff around the chin.

        Little does he know that a life of protesting for the sake of protest does not feed anyone or provide jobs for anyone. He really does believe that “taxing the rich” is productive. He really thinks the government can feed, clothe, shelter, protect and keep the name callers and bullies away. He has no self worth, just an inflated (by liberal dogma) ego. He will not work a meaningful day or make a meaningful contribution.

        He’ll spend his life being angry and feel put out, when he HAS NO REASON to be angry or fell put out.

        Then he’ll wake up at about 35 or 40…and realize that he has no family, no kids, no house, no job, no prospects, no memories and the bio-diesel Vespa he putts around in makes him smell like french fries.

        Self-perpetuating patheticism.

      • Brian Hibbert

        It’s the progressive dream. Unfortunately their dream doesn’t say “till there are no poor no more” because even THEY understand that they can’t solve the problem of poverty by eliminating wealth. They can only bring the wealth down.

        The Iron Lady pinned this a LONG time ago:

        • stephaniet

          And wow, British politics are a lot noisier than I’ve ever heard of ours being! You know, with the exception of “You lie!” Then again, I don’t see many videos of the inner workings of either the House or the Senate.

          • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

            they show them from time to time on c-span. Unlike our leaders, the British Prime minister has to answer impertinent questions from the opposition.

            It makes great theater.

    • Lloyd Davis

      Remember, people like him will want to run the country. God help us all.

      …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

      No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
      - Ronald Reagan

  • eastbaylarry

    For any who have not yet seen this summary:

    http://www.black-and-right.com/the-democrat-race-lie/

    This is a pretty comprehensive list of position the democrats have taken over the years.

    • hickorystick

      I liked this one too, that was linked too it.

      http://www.therepublicantemple.com/

      Michigan representative Dingle that is attacking the small farmers and organic food producers of the Western region. Why he can’t stick to the problems of Michigan is beyond me. It isn’t like there aren’t any problems he could find and fix in his own state.

      • Common_Cents

        I believe they are now #2 retailer behind Walmart. A public company and former huge customer of mine when I was in the biz. They are well diversified and operate in all kinds of markets all over the US under numerous store brands.

        Retailer margins are generally abysmal. Krogers operating margin was 2.9% A small change in operating costs can wreak havoc.

        Reports say that Kroger store lost money for 7 years. I’d say they overstayed their welcome. Other reports say the City of Cincinnati itself had a major hand in the closing by tearing down nearby high density apartments to change to single family homes. This further reduced the area below density required to operate that size/type of store.

        Ooops, ah forget the facts, let’s run with the story for some votes!
        As far as politicizing this, after a few decades you’d think these communities would recognize when they are being used as pawns for political gain. As Dr. Phil says, How’s that workin for ya?

    • http://www.veronicaestrada.com/ Veronica Estrada

      I’d like to note that the democratic sites Black and Right links to are stagnant, pre-2008 election sites.

      Which means these are the sites Obama and the dems used to usher him to office.

      A linked site:

      http://www.democrats.org/democracybonds.html

      That guy has links on the front page from 2006.

      This is an example of

      A.) how the campaign went viral before viral was a household word and

      B.) what lies dormant and ready for action to give Obama his second term.

      We have work to do.

      Mine begins with lunch for the fam.

      Kudos for the links, Larry.

  • http://erickbrockway.wordpress.com/ Erick Brockway

    In Ventura, Calif the locals have vehemently opposed WalMart opening a store in that city. Argument is, of course, it’ll put “many mom and pop stores” out of business.

    The real reason is that WalMart in non-union, very few “mom and pop” stores exist anywhere near where a WalMart would be located, and that fact comes out when you dismantle all their other arguments in local forums.

    So today a Super WalMart exists in a neighboring city instead, it’s a huge draw for many smaller stores who located nearby, and the City of Oxnard gets the tax benefit instead of Ventura.

    Another plus is the locals in the area are generally lower income and so get the benefit of cheaper prices, whatever some may think of WalMart the Corporation.

    • Leopard1996

      But the common retort that I am hearing from folks out here, is that there is the issue of transportation to a Wal-Mart or other stores, and it does not allow those people to buy what they need and that there are limited in what they can carry because they don’t have a car. Granted I call B.S. on that argument as well, because if that was the case the original store would not have been operating at a loss in the first damn place.

      • http://erickbrockway.wordpress.com/ Erick Brockway

        People around our WalMart just push shopping carts home and leave them in the street, so transportation doesn’t seem to be much of an issue.

        • texasgalt

          when nearly all the stores abandon an urban, minority market. There are a lot of really good people, many of them older, who are trapped in these neighborhoods. If the nearest grocery store is 5 miles away and you are old and without transportation, it is a real challenge. Many times these residents can not even order a pizza becuase no one will deliver to their area.

          I actually did business in an inner city minority market . Unfortunately, about 10 percent or so of the customers were basically thugs and that’s enough to make it definitely not worth the effort.

    • Common_Cents

      In MN union run stores are losing out to the non union superstores. Union store cashiers can make $22/hr plus pension plus healthcare. Oh yeah, union dues are jumping up after union leaders spent all the money on elections and who knows what.

  • Brian Hibbert

    shop to open a small neighborhood grocer and fulfill a need while making a profit. If the people in the area were thinking, that’s the route they should take. Of course if THEY don’t think a grocer could operate safely and profitably in THEIR neighborhood, there’s no hope.

  • Richard Mullins

    and look at the diary, the closing is something that happens when the store becomes unprofitable. Our leaders in minority communities attempt to drum ill will for personal gain. I’m guessing that the Roselawn community is sort of like Sunnyside in Houston with not many grocery stores but there are stores out in the distance. My point to the charlatans is instill a little better understanding of economics via the use of The Wealth of Nations(it wouldn’t to buy a few copies of and give them away). If there isn’t one in the community, go the store that closest by either Bus,Car or Bicycle. No need to whine about losing one. I think that should work out.

  • penguin2

    Though they are the only cards they play, they are unfortunately, strong ones. Candidates calling for government control, will end up with exactly that. Perhaps they’ll then be able to provide 24/7 security services for the store…..at taxpayer expense.

    Yes, it is how fascism starts.

  • hickorystick

    I would encourage you to stick with your initial impressions and feelings on this. I gathered from what you started to write, that black people in a poor neighborhood were going to have to drive farther to buy food for the family, and their would lose about 40 jobs, in an already stressed neighborhood.
    That politicians are jumping on the bandwagon, and making hay out of an easy issue, is irrelevant. Politicians are cheap political whores. They always reap where they do not sow. In my area, there was an area called Skid Row. It was a place for broken men, who had washed in from building railroads and such. The Socialists would go down there and get on a soap box. It was great, free, entertainment, but it was the American Dream that they held out for. Their immediate need was food and a job. The ideologues didn’t change their thinking.
    The impression I got from what you were starting to write, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth, was that this community wouldn’t have access to what other communities had. And no, they just can’t pick up and move to another community with a store. In my city they have community officers, and citizen groups. If there is excess shoplifting, from a small set of people, I would suggest the city be asked to put a Police Officer in the store, to insure teh stores inventory isn’t lifted, reducing profits.
    Too often, problems that are said to be race based, are actually micro-economic based. The Lefts solutions are almost always wrong, but some of their observations are correct. I would encourage you to offer a Republican solution (ala Teddy Roosevelt) to what you see.

  • texasgalt

    If you can keep the employees from stealing from you. . . if you can cut down the customers “forgetting” to pay you. . . not to mention the brazen thug invasions where they come in force and dare you to stop them from stealing all the cigs. Of course you also need to find a way to keep the customers from being panhandled on the way to their car and then your employees need a way to safely get to their car after their shift.

    There’s no hope.

  • Leopard1996

    I at first was starting to write for solicitations of opinions on this issue, but the as I was writing the more I saw this for what it was, and now have no sympathy, I mean when I moved back to Cincinnati, me and the wife had an apartment in what is officially known as the downtown area in Cincinnati, and yes we had to drive to find any supermarket, the closest one was a few miles up the road, but the quality was horrid when it came to produce and fresh meats, so we decided to drive about 8 to ten miles into the suburbs to a Marketplace Kroger where the quality of the produce and meats was so much better and more was offered.

    Now that I live in one of the suburbs just outside of the City of Cincinnati proper, I always see these bus services going to the Wal-Mart, Kroger, or Meijer by me so I am sure these Senior citizen communities have the same type of services. Also in one of the articles I was reading on this, and I believe Common_Cents made the same point, this area was initially a high density area that was targeted for lowering the population density, hence took a huge amount of the customer base away from that particular store.

  • Lloyd Davis

    That man was Martin Luther King Jr. He is held up by the left while at the same time they seek to drive a wedge between the races with quotas and false charges of racism. This is not the way Dr. King would want his work to be used. His dream was not to divide, but to bring together as equals.
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
    - Ronald Reagan

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

    Generally operated by families/relatives – and the proprietors pack heat and generally at least two are on-duty to cover each other’s backs. A few times a year some robber(s) get a quick lesson in self-defense when they ignore this fact – and for some of them it’s a terminal lesson as they end up in the morgue.

    Yes there is a market for these stores, but you have to know how to operate them.